Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Daring Cooks March Challenge: Risotto




Truth be told I've had saffron in my spice rack for a while now. I bought it on a whim and haven't known what to do with it since. That's where Eleanor of Melbourne Food Geek and Jess of Jess the Baker came to my rescue with this Month's Daring Cooks challenge, Risotto. I knew the fate of that saffron right away. The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.


One of the requirements of this challenge was we had to make our own stock which I love to do. If you've never made your own stock I really encourage you to try. It tastes so much better than storebought and believe me it is quite simple and so worth it. Now, you won't want to tell anyone this little secret I've come to know about risotto but it is one of those dishes that everyone thinks is hard to make when in fact with a watchful eye and a lot of stirring is really quite easy to make. The revelation of this fact was exciting for me because risotto is utterly luxurious, rich and a very impressive dish to serve. Every time I make risotto I always ask myself why I don't make it more often so thanks Eleanor and Jess for the reminder!

Recipe:

Chicken Stock Recipe:

Risotto Recipe:
5 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced or 1 small onion, diced
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
large pinch of saffron
1 1/2 cups parmigiano reggiano, finely grated
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. In a saucepan, bring chicken stock to a simmer.
2. In another saucepan, melt the butter with the olive oil and saute shallots over low-med heat for about 10 minutes. Add rice to the shallots and stir, coating all of the grains with the oil, for 5 minutes.
3. Add the wine and saffron to the rice and stir until the liquid is absorbed.
4. Slowly add stock to the mixture one cup at a time until each cup is absorbed, stirring constantly until rice is tender but still slightly firm in the center and the mixture is creamy, about 18 minutes.
5. Add the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Serve immediately.

Serves 6

9 comments:

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

I love♥love risotto!
I could eat it everynight, everyway. Simple saffron risotto is awesome~ thanks for this.

chef_d said...

The color of your risotto is gorgeous!

Audax said...

That colour is gorgeous and I bet the flavour is delicious and good to hear that the process was so easy and simple for you and yes it is. Well done on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

OBTW I noticed that you didn't place in the blog-checking lines which the web-bot needs to find in your posing so you can be checked off as completed. The blog checking lines for this challenge are:
The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

If you place these in your posting that way you can be checked off as completed, no big deal. The blog-checking lines are always at the beginning of the reveal challenge recipe. Yours

Audax said...

Madeline - thank you for visiting my blog and it is only the blog-checking lines that need to be added to your posting everything else is up to you. Yours

Anonymous said...

The color of your risotto is great. And yes, I agree, I don't think cooking risotto is very complicated!

Vivian Thiele said...

Your recipe sounds delicious! Like you, I had some saffron sitting in my cabinet that I bought in Turkey last fall. I still have a lot so will have to give your recipe a try.

Madeline said...

Thanks everyone! It's amazing the colour the saffron gives to the dish.

Thanks for the info Audax, I didn't know that. Woops!

alpapito said...

oh yeah daring cooks. I love to watch Iron chef and other cooking TV shows because I can learn other dishes, techniques and on how to organize and prioritize the foods. I also love the awesome design of the spice rack used, it really bring life and organizes the kitchen.

cuppy said...

Oooh, simple and elegant!

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